Penguin swims 8000km for pensioner

  • 10/03/2016
(ITV)
(ITV)

A Brazilian man has revealed the remarkable friendship he has developed with a penguin he rescued from an oil slick.

Joao Pereira De Souza nursed DinDim back to health after he found the bird covered in oil and starving to death in 2011. He released him back into the wild expecting he'd never see him again.

But every year Dindim returns. A tender, fishy nibble on the cheek is a reflection of the feathered friend's affection for the man who saved his life.

Each year he has swum more than 8000km from his breeding colony off Antarctica and back to a small beach close to Rio de Janeiro.

Mr De Souza says he loves the creature like his own child; swimming together, feeding him sardines, even being allowed to put the penguin in his lap.

DinDim has only eyes for this retired bricklayer, anyone else trying to get close will get a very different kind of peck.

ITV News